World Cup: The U.S. rout of Thailand raises concerns

The USWNT beat Thailand 13-0 to open their World Cup tournament. But the win has left some with a sour taste in their mouth.

The U.S. women’s national team made history in their inaugural game at the 2019 World Cup defeating Thailand by a whopping score of 13-0. Seven different players scored for the U.S. with Alex Morgan scoring five of those thirteen goals. Any other time this would be a cause for celebration.

But both on social media and post game shows, people were criticizing the U.S. for running up the score and for celebrating the goals. Fox Sports analyst, Rob Stone, suggested that the team should have eased up because the game was done and dusted by halftime. Alexi Lalas, who is no stranger to bad takes, rebutted saying the U.S. were right to keep going for it.

Clare Rustad and Kaylyn Kyle, former Canadian players and now analysts for TSN, also criticized the U.S. not only for continuing to score but for celebrating. Kyle went as far as to say she was “disgusted” and that “there are kids watching this.”

On the men’s side, the closest thing to resemble this in recent memory was the 2014 World Cup match between Brazil and Germany where the German team trounced the hosts 7-1. On that occasion, after halftime already up 5-0, Mats Hummels says that they made a pledge to not humiliate Brazil yet still be concentrated. Hummels felt that they had to show them respect.

But that is not a side-by-side comparison. Even on that occasion, Germany went on to score two more goals. Also, Germany were playing Brazil, not Thailand. The factors in which the opponents came into the their respective World Cups are different. Spectators, analysts, and even players should be concerned about what happened but not because of the score or celebrations.

The issues raised by the rout of Thailand at the hands of the U.S. is the fact that women’s football still does not receive an adequate amount of support from their governing bodies. There is a reason why countries like England, France, and the United States are always candidates to win the World Cup. It’s because their federations do better jobs of investing into the women’s game and even in these countries its far from perfect.

Heading into the tournament, Ada Hegeberg, the winner of the Ballon d’Or and best player in the world, was set to be absent from the event after quitting the Norwegian national team due to disparity in pay and conditions. The aforementioned U.S. women’s team sued the soccer federation over gender discrimination, again having to do with pay and worse playing conditions than the men. The U.S. federation is considered one of the more supportive ones when it comes to the women’s game and they are not without some massive shortcomings.

Shireen Ahmed wrote an amazing article in Time about the World Cup and how corruption and abuse remains a huge deterrent and barrier to entry in the game. She mentions the problems certain teams are dealing with regards to their FAs as well as Ada Hegerberg and her fight for equality. The part that stands out and gets to the bottom of the problem is if even the best teams in the world are having to fight for equality, pay, and better working conditions, imagine what it must be like for those teams who are not as successful as the U.S. or have outstanding players like a Hegerberg. Their plight is even more difficult and one in which those in charge are generally apathetic towards women’s football.

Ahmed references countless other serious concerns facing less privileged teams. She references the allegations of sexual abuse suffered by Afghanistan’s national team at the hands of the country’s federation.  The president of the Afghan FA has since been banned by FIFA. The point is that there are a number of stories out there that go simply beyond equal pay. They delve into harassment and sexual abuse and other matters that go unnoticed because players lack sufficient support.

The problems for a lot of these national teams run deep. Certainly far deeper than the numbers at the end of a scoreline. For all the hand wringing about the score, the U.S. are at the World Cup to win it and with the disparity in talent and backing, similar scorelines will continue to follow.

As for Thailand, Thatcha Antivackis, a Thai fan, sums it up, “We cheered and sang until the last of the 94 minutes. I was happy to be there and proud that the team could get to this stage.”